CEO says Gazprom to retain 10–15 bcm/yr transit across Ukraine

MOSCOW, Apr 10 (PRIME) -- Russian gas giant Gazprom would like to retain a 10–15 billion cubic meter (bcm) gas transit across Ukraine if it brings profit, CEO Alexei Miller told reporters on Tuesday.

“We have never raised the question of abandoning Ukrainian transit. But the Russian resource base moves north, and there will be just no resources at old volumes in the central gas transportation corridor,” Miller said. “This is why some transit contracts can remain, amounting to 10–15 bcm a year but the Ukrainian side must prove economic viability of new transit contracts.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Russia’s Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline project is impossible without definition of the future role of Ukrainian gas transit.

The Nord Stream-2 project envisages construction of two lines of a natural gas pipeline with an annual capacity of up to 55 billion cubic meters, running from the Russian shore to Germany under the Baltic Sea. Russian gas giant Gazprom will implement the project together with its European partners – Shell, OMV, Engie, Uniper, and Wintershall.

End